Forum - View topicA Highly Subjective Statement About Japan
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Iritscen
 Subscriber Posts: 910 |
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Okay, is it my imagination, or is anime, and perhaps Japan as a whole, really keen on food? This is as subjective as it gets, and you guys might think I'm crazy... but it just seems like there's so much more eating in anime, manga, live action stuff, etc. than I see on American TV (and we're the fat ones!).
Have any of you noticed this at all or am I imagining this? |
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omar235
 Posts: 1572 Location: Florida, Jacksonvile |
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Sure I guess there is alot...certain series have alot more then others. As far as why we are the fat ones it is mostly because their food is nutritional. We have nutritional food to but a rather large portion of the population eats the unhealthy foods...or so I read.
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KyuuA4
 Posts: 1371 Location: America, where anime and manga can be made |
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On top of that, we have MORE food than other countries on average. I was talking to an Australian dude who made a World Trip from Australia to Japan to Europe to America and back. One thing he pointed out about America was -- food places everywhere. Just look. Every 2-3 blocks of a heavy commercialized area. There's about 5-10 food places. |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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I think the word "keen" is a good word to describe it. Not keen in the sense of quantity but keen in the sense of quality and diversity. It is a fact that Japan is a leading world powerhouse in the realm of gourmet cuisine, pastries and rare delectables. Just look at their food; so colorful, precise and pleasing to the eye and the technology they devote to food preparation products; rice cookers, sushi makers, hot water dispensers, etc. I have also noticed that many international cuisines are popular in Japan like Italian, German and various Asian counterparts..
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Asako
 Posts: 751 Location: Hawaii |
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I think food appears a lot because it's important in more ways than being eaten. You can often tell where a character is from by what food they might refer to (or like Ryoga from Ranma, whenever he shows up with omiyage it's from a particular region since he's so lost all the time).
Their culture is focuses on the seasons greatly with their particular celebrations. There's also certain foods eaten during those times. They have particular food for good luck and many other wishes! (mm.. like the mochi soup my mom makes every new years) I love their many celebrations... it makes you enjoy the different changes that life bring around... Also they have an idea of perfection. I mean, if you go to McDonalds in Japan and order a cheeseburger you will get that picture perfect cheeseburger you see near the menu. Presentation of the food is very important. Though, if you see their "large" soft drinks, they're about the size of an American kids drink for their happy meal. I wish everything in America was sold as smaller portions.... |
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Ichigo77
 Posts: 389 Location: California |
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That is so true when I ordered a double cheeseburger in Japan it was stack perfectly with no greese, it looked just like in the picture as compared to here where some 16 year old throws it together real quick and the bread and meat or lopsided lol. |
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10円
Posts: 605 |
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Here in America most of our restaurants seem to focus on quantity and virtually ignore quality altogether. American restaurant food is almost never truly fresh. Hot meals are often served dry or congealed while cold meals are often served soggy or wilted. At least that's been my experience.
In my very limited exposure to Japan I found the portions were smaller, the costs were higher, and the quality was better. Naturally what you like will depend on your own tastes, but I'm tempted to have more respect for average Japanese restaurants than I do average American ones. In America you can fill up at just about any basic restaurant for very little money. If you want to stuff your face in Japan like we do here in America it will cost you more money but the quality will likely be much improved over a similar meal in most US restaurants. Of course, if all you want is a basic meal then you can still find very reasonable prices even in Tokyo. Just don't expect any of the free corn syrup refills and various other pig-friendly benefits offered by US restaurants. One thing I'd like to point out is that anime seems to go really overboard in the case of food. I'm no expert on Japan, but I never saw any Japanese people gobbling down their food like starving beasts or making a big deal out of whatever they were eating like you sometimes see anime characters do. In fact they all seemed really careful to eat with good manners and not draw any undue attention to themselves. The whole experience of visiting a restaurant in Japan wasn't that much different than visiting a US restaurant, but they did seem more professional and more polite. One time I was in New York waiting to board a flight to Narita on Japan Airlines and I noticed that all the Japanese passengers were being careful to only eat while sitting down in the little restaurant area and didn't take any of their food or drink into the rest of the terminal. If you haven't done much flying with Americans you may not know that we take our food pretty much anywhere in the airport and some folks will even munch on it while standing or walking as they move about the concourse. As an aside, it would seem rather unlikely for Psycho's previously mentioned New Years nightmare date to happen in an average restaurant in Japan (excluding gaijin-friendly hotel buffets). Last edited by 10円 on Fri May 04, 2007 9:59 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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Nom_Anor
 Posts: 246 |
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I know it's slightly off topic, but do Japanese restaurants bring free water almost automatically like in the US? Most European restaurants do not do this, so I am rather curious.
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Asako
Posts: 751 Location: Hawaii |
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Also, if you eat a buffet "baikingu" there are signs that say you must finish everything on your plate or pay extra. And every restaurant, even McDonalds, has a sink ready and available to wash your hands before you eat.  Cleanliness is a big thing in Japan.
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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Certain places yes, but restaraunts normally bring out water for you. When I would go to a gyuudon shop, they would automatically bring out water. Perhaps food is shown being eaten a lot because it references to high metabolism by certain Japanese people? Thin people on top of that, while I haven't seen too many fat characters eating a lot in anime. |
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Kouji
 Posts: 978 |
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Asako
Posts: 751 Location: Hawaii |
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Actually.. I'm not sure O.o I think the school paid for it since it was one of those times we went out to eat with the english teachers, japanese teachers, and the english club. We were all scared to pick things we weren't sure about eating just in the case we didn't finish it and they would have to pay extra 
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LuckySleven
 Posts: 426 Location: Refer to page 2 |
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Depending on what kind of restaurant your talking about because there are pretty cheap restaurants like Denny's, Swiss Chalet, etc. While there are more fancy restaurants that are more about qaulity than quantity. In in the area I'm living the price for a buffet would be like $20 for an adult and $10 for a child(Canadian). There aren't a lot of fat characters in anime because it would seem appealing to the fans. Also yes, Japan does have a lot of fiber in it's food so that increases the metabolism level. Also most food can be eaten by chopsticks so food are in small proportions. It's a fact that the slower you eat, the faster you get full. So in Japan food is eaten slowly with chopsticks. I know this because of the chopstick diet :3 loss 10 pounds on this, w00t~! "If you can't eat it with chopsticks, don't eat it at all" Also there's tea, we all know what tea is made of. That's right, plants and water. As an Asian person I drink quiet a lot of tea, this also means that I drink a lot of water. When you drink water it detoxify the body. When you drink ice cold water the body warms up the water so you stomach is using it's muscles - it gets a work out :3 |
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10円
Posts: 605 |
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Seeing how meek and polite Japanese restaurant staff are in comparison to American staff it almost seems comical to imagine being challenged with an additional charge for leaving something on your plate. Are there any forum posts or blog entries where you go into any detail about your travels in Japan? I'm always curious to read about the experiences of others. Last edited by 10円 on Fri May 04, 2007 10:38 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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10円
Posts: 605 |
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That may explain the size of the pieces but certainly not the size of the portion. The size of the portion is probably dictated by the size of the people who live there. Japanese people are typically smaller than Americans, so they naturally require less food to fill up in any one sitting. Even Japanese medicines are typically in lower dosages than their American equivalents for the same reason. So, if you travel to Japan you might want to bring your own medicine with you. Just don't try to bring any of the original Sudafed or you might end up in jail for attempting to enter with a controlled substance.
I don't think that eating slower really speeds up feeling full; it just slows down your consumption long enough for you to naturally recognize that you're no longer hungry.
I've been around Asians for years, many of them avid tea drinkers, and yet not a single one of them drinks anywhere near as much tea as the average native Texan. No really, I'm serious. Sweetened iced tea (black) is consumed almost like water here. In fact at work we have a massive commercial tea maker that creates gallons of tea and a commercial ice maker right next to it. We also have one of the facilities staff come buy and start that thing up early in the morning and again in the middle of the day just so that nobody ever has to wait for their tea fix. One day there was massive uproar because somebody cleaned out the tea maker early and folks who were staying late didn't have any more tea to drink. Then in a separate incident somebody got careless and somehow managed to tip over the multi-gallon tea spigot. In no time at all the coffee and tea service was called out to get the damaged tea maker replaced overnight. |
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